Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team Active
The Team Studies Toxicants and Pathogens in Drinking Water
To understand if and when humans are exposed
The Team Studies Toxicants and Pathogens in Streams
To understand if and when wildlife are exposed
The Team Studies Toxicant and Pathogen Sources and Movement
The Team Develops Tools to Understand Health Effects
The team studies toxicants and pathogens in water resources from their sources, through watersheds, aquifers, and infrastructure to human and wildlife exposures. That information is used to develop decision tools that protect human and wildlife health.
Americans rely on treatment of drinking water and wastewater, and the maintenance of water distribution infrastructure to assure safe water supplies for the public and wildlife. New chemicals are manufactured and used every day. Populations grow and demographics shift. Treatment, conveyance and plumbing infrastructure ages, and new technologies are developed to detect contaminants (toxicants and pathogens) at low levels. Consequently, questions arise about the health effects of exposure to contaminants indivually or in complex mixtures.
The US Geological Survey’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team provides information on processes that affect contaminants as they move from naturally occurring and human-caused sources through aquifers, aquatic environments, and infrastructure. This comprehensive understanding of contaminant profiles from source to exposure is used to develop decision tools to economically, effectively, and efficiently reduce wildlife or human exposure and associated health risks.
The Team prioritizes science in underserved urban and rural agricultural communities and in tribal nations, which are disproportionally impacted by geologic and climatic events, by drinking-water source limitations and resultant dependence on water-reuse and unregulated/unmonitored private-wells.
More Information
Date Visualization: "Drop by Drop" and "PFAS Interactive Tool"
GeoHEALTH–USGS Newsletter-Special Issue on Drinking Water
Questions That the Team Answers:
- Is treated wastewater effluent a source of contaminants to streams that serve as source water for publicly and self-supplied drinking water supplies?
- What contaminants are in tap waters from publicly and self-supplied drinking water sources?
- What factors influence the types of contaminants that are present in tap water?
- Are there hazards to fish and wildlife associated with exposure to low-levels of contaminants in streams that receive wastewater?
- What mitigation actions are the most efficient and cost effective at reducing exposure at the tap for humans? Or in water resources for wildlife?
- Can decision tools be established to to define, prioritize and mitigate human and wildlife health risks?
USGS featured science articles related to this science team’s activities.
Improvements in Wastewater Treatment Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Fish
Evidence of Endocrine Disruption Unexpectedly Found in Minnesota Lakes
USGS data releases associated with this science team.
MODFLOW-2005 and MODPATH models used to simulate hydraulic tomography pumping tests and identify a fracture network, former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ
Pumping Rate, Drawdown, and Atmospheric Pressure Data from Hydraulic Tomography Experiment at the Former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ, 2015-2016
Lithostratigrapic, Geophysical, and Hydrogeologic Observations from a Deep Boring in Glacial Sediments on Davis Neck near Nantucket Sound, East Falmouth, Western Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Data Release for Lake Shadow Seepage Calculations from Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, MA, 2016 - 2018
Natural gradient, lakebed tracer tests using nitrite in a nitrate-contaminated groundwater discharge zone in Ashumet Pond, Massachusetts
Electrical geophysical data collected in the shallow sediments of Snake Pond, Cape Cod, USA
Concentrations of Pesticides, Pharmaceuticals, Organic Waste Indicators, and Volatile Organic Chemical Contaminants and Their Predicted Effects Potential in Wadeable Southeastern USA Streams
Occurrence and Concentrations of Trace Elements in Discrete Tapwater Samples Collected in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana, 2017
Target-Chemical Concentrations, Exposure Activity Ratios, and Bioassay Results for Assessment of Mixed-Organic/Inorganic-Chemical Exposure in USA Tapwater, 2016
Organic and total carbon analyses of rock core collected from boreholes 83BR, 84BR, 85BR, 86BR, 87BR, 88BR, and 89BR in the mudstone underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
Geochemical data supporting analysis of geochemical conditions and nitrogen transport in nearshore groundwater and the subterranean estuary at a Cape Cod embayment, East Falmouth, Massachusetts
Occurrence data for organic compounds and bioactive chemicals in water, sediment and tissue from Rocky Mountain National Park, 2012-13
USGS publications associated with this science team.
Public and private tapwater: Comparative analysis of contaminant exposure and potential risk, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
Machine learning models of arsenic in private wells throughout the conterminous United States as a tool for exposure assessment in human health studies
Inclusion of pesticide transformation products is key to estimating pesticide exposures and effects in small U.S. streams
Feral swine as sources of fecal contamination in recreational waters
Syntrophotalea acetylenivorans sp. nov., a diazotrophic, acetylenotrophic anaerobe isolated from intertidal sediments
Multi-region assessment of chemical mixture exposures and predicted cumulative effects in USA wadeable urban/agriculture-gradient streams
Chemical-contaminant mixtures are widely reported in large stream reaches in urban/agriculture-developed watersheds, but mixture compositions and aggregate biological effects are less well understood in corresponding smaller headwaters, which comprise most of stream length, riparian connectivity, and spatial biodiversity. During 2014–2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured 389 unique orga
Acetylene-fueled trichloroethene reductive dechlorination in a groundwater enrichment culture
Modeling estrogenic activity in streams throughout the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay watersheds
In vitro effects-based method and water quality screening model for use in pre- and post-distribution treated waters
Assessing the impact of drought on arsenic exposure from private domestic wells in the conterminous United States
Evaluating the effects of replacing septic systems with municipal sewers on groundwater quality in a densely developed coastal neighborhood, Falmouth, Massachusetts, 2016–19
Differences in neonicotinoid and metabolite sorption to activated carbon are driven by alterations to the insecticidal pharmacophore
- Overview
The team studies toxicants and pathogens in water resources from their sources, through watersheds, aquifers, and infrastructure to human and wildlife exposures. That information is used to develop decision tools that protect human and wildlife health.
Americans rely on treatment of drinking water and wastewater, and the maintenance of water distribution infrastructure to assure safe water supplies for the public and wildlife. New chemicals are manufactured and used every day. Populations grow and demographics shift. Treatment, conveyance and plumbing infrastructure ages, and new technologies are developed to detect contaminants (toxicants and pathogens) at low levels. Consequently, questions arise about the health effects of exposure to contaminants indivually or in complex mixtures.
The US Geological Survey’s Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Science Team provides information on processes that affect contaminants as they move from naturally occurring and human-caused sources through aquifers, aquatic environments, and infrastructure. This comprehensive understanding of contaminant profiles from source to exposure is used to develop decision tools to economically, effectively, and efficiently reduce wildlife or human exposure and associated health risks.
The Team prioritizes science in underserved urban and rural agricultural communities and in tribal nations, which are disproportionally impacted by geologic and climatic events, by drinking-water source limitations and resultant dependence on water-reuse and unregulated/unmonitored private-wells.
More Information
Date Visualization: "Drop by Drop" and "PFAS Interactive Tool"
GeoHEALTH–USGS Newsletter-Special Issue on Drinking Water
Questions That the Team Answers:
- Is treated wastewater effluent a source of contaminants to streams that serve as source water for publicly and self-supplied drinking water supplies?
- What contaminants are in tap waters from publicly and self-supplied drinking water sources?
- What factors influence the types of contaminants that are present in tap water?
- Are there hazards to fish and wildlife associated with exposure to low-levels of contaminants in streams that receive wastewater?
- What mitigation actions are the most efficient and cost effective at reducing exposure at the tap for humans? Or in water resources for wildlife?
- Can decision tools be established to to define, prioritize and mitigate human and wildlife health risks?
- Science
USGS featured science articles related to this science team’s activities.
Filter Total Items: 26Improvements in Wastewater Treatment Reduces Endocrine Disruption in Fish
A team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Colorado, and the City of Boulder, Colorado, demonstrated that improvements to the treatment process at a wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) reduced the level of endocrine disruption in fish exposed to wastewater effluent discharged from the facility. It is difficult to anticipate the effects that upgrading WWTF...Evidence of Endocrine Disruption Unexpectedly Found in Minnesota Lakes
Endocrine disrupting chemicals and indicators of endocrine disruption were found in several Minnesota lakes with surrounding urban, residential, agricultural, and forested land uses. The lakes do not directly receive discharges from industries or wastewater-treatment plants; however, they are used for recreation, and they receive water from widely scattered sources. The presence of both male and... - Data
USGS data releases associated with this science team.
Filter Total Items: 38MODFLOW-2005 and MODPATH models used to simulate hydraulic tomography pumping tests and identify a fracture network, former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ
MODFLOW-2005 groundwater flow models were developed to simulate 47 pumping tests conducted for a hydraulic tomography experiment in fractured rocks underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey. These flow models simulate the change in water level during the pumping tests, which range from about 45 to 60 minutes in duration. MODFLOW-2005 models were also developed to simPumping Rate, Drawdown, and Atmospheric Pressure Data from Hydraulic Tomography Experiment at the Former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ, 2015-2016
This data release presents pumping rate data, water-level drawdown and recovery data, and atmospheric pressure data collected during 48 pumping tests conducted in 2015 and 2016 for a hydraulic tomography field experiment in the mudstone aquifer underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC), West Trenton, NJ. The pumping rate data include rates measured by in-line flow meters and rates measLithostratigrapic, Geophysical, and Hydrogeologic Observations from a Deep Boring in Glacial Sediments on Davis Neck near Nantucket Sound, East Falmouth, Western Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Lithostratigraphic and hydrogeologic observations for the unconfined aquifer of western Cape Cod are limited near coastal groundwater-discharge areas. In spring 2015, a 310-foot-deep boring was drilled and a well was installed to 100 feet below land surface to facilitate detailed study of aquifer characteristics along the southern coast of Cape Cod. Characteristics of interest included the depth aData Release for Lake Shadow Seepage Calculations from Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, MA, 2016 - 2018
Hydrologic data were collected in the nearshore lake-bottom sediments of five lakes on western Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Ashumet (Falmouth), Long (Centerville), Santuit (Mashpee), Shubael (Barnstable), and Snake (Sandwich) Ponds. Water budgets of flow-through glacial kettle lakes are commonly dominated by groundwater flow into and surface-water seepage out of the lake, and inputs and losses from prNatural gradient, lakebed tracer tests using nitrite in a nitrate-contaminated groundwater discharge zone in Ashumet Pond, Massachusetts
The U.S. Geological Survey Toxic Substances Hydrology Program at Cape Cod has been investigating the fate and transport of a treated-wastewater, groundwater contaminant plume. A portion of the contaminated groundwater discharges into Ashumet Pond, a kettle hole, freshwater lake. A study was conducted from June 2013 to June 2015 to document transport, transformation, and discharge of dissolved inorElectrical geophysical data collected in the shallow sediments of Snake Pond, Cape Cod, USA
Quantification of mobile/less-mobile porosity dynamics at the sediment/water interface is critical to predicting contaminant storage, release, and transformation processes. Zones in groundwater flow-through lakes where lake water recharges the aquifer can strongly control aquifer water quality. Less-mobile porosity has previously been characterized in aquifers using flow path scale (10's of m+) trConcentrations of Pesticides, Pharmaceuticals, Organic Waste Indicators, and Volatile Organic Chemical Contaminants and Their Predicted Effects Potential in Wadeable Southeastern USA Streams
This dataset presents the results of 475 unique organic compounds collected from 54 wadeable streams within the Southeastern, USA, collected within 10 weeks during 2014. Maximum and median exposure conditions were evaluated in relation to watershed characteristics and for potential biological effects. This dataset contains the summary statistics (maximum and median concentrations)of detected compoOccurrence and Concentrations of Trace Elements in Discrete Tapwater Samples Collected in Chicago, Illinois and East Chicago, Indiana, 2017
This dataset contains the trace element concentration results for samples collected from tapwater sites in East Chicago, Indiana, August-September, 2017, and Chicago, Illinois, July-December, 2017. Samples were collected one time, from 45 private residences and associated drinking water plants and source water locations. Water-quality samples were analyzed at two U.S. Geological Survey laboratorieTarget-Chemical Concentrations, Exposure Activity Ratios, and Bioassay Results for Assessment of Mixed-Organic/Inorganic-Chemical Exposure in USA Tapwater, 2016
Chemical and biological concentration results, quality assurance and quality control and statistical summaries from 26 tapwater samples, collected from paired residential and work place sites in 11 states in 2016. Samples were analylzed at U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency laboratories.Organic and total carbon analyses of rock core collected from boreholes 83BR, 84BR, 85BR, 86BR, 87BR, 88BR, and 89BR in the mudstone underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey
These data sets present results for analyses of the fraction of total and organic carbon in samples of rock core collected from boreholes 83BR, 84BR, 85BR, 86BR, 87BR, 88BR, and 89BR in the Lockatong Formation (mudstone) underlying the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey.Geochemical data supporting analysis of geochemical conditions and nitrogen transport in nearshore groundwater and the subterranean estuary at a Cape Cod embayment, East Falmouth, Massachusetts
This data release provides analytical and other data in support of an analysis of nitrogen transport and transformation in groundwater and in a subterranean estuary in the Eel River and onshore locations on the Seacoast Shores peninsula, Falmouth, Massachusetts. The analysis is described in U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2018-5095 by Colman and others (2018). This data relOccurrence data for organic compounds and bioactive chemicals in water, sediment and tissue from Rocky Mountain National Park, 2012-13
This data set contains the concentration results for water- and sediment-quality and tissue samples, as well as associated quality-assurance data, collected at sampling locations located in the Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Samples were collected between 2012 and 2013. Samples were analyzed for nutrients, hormones, pharmaceutical, wastewater indicator compounds and pesticides, at the U.S - Publications
USGS publications associated with this science team.
Filter Total Items: 89Public and private tapwater: Comparative analysis of contaminant exposure and potential risk, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA
BackgroundHumans are primary drivers of environmental contamination worldwide, including in drinking-water resources. In the United States (US), federal and state agencies regulate and monitor public-supply drinking water while private-supply monitoring is rare; the current lack of directly comparable information on contaminant-mixture exposures and risks between private- and public-supplies underAuthorsPaul M. Bradley, Denis R. LeBlanc, Kristin M. Romanok, Kelly Smalling, Michael J. Focazio, Mary C. Cardon, Jimmy Clark, Justin M. Conley, Nicola Evans, Carrie E Givens, James L. Gray, L. Earl Gray, Phillip C. Hartig, Christopher P. Higgins, Michelle Hladik, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Keith Loftin, R. Blaine McCleskey, Carrie A. McDonough, Elizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Christopher P. Weis, Vickie S. WilsonByEcosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Eastern Ecological Science Center, New England Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Upper Midwest Water Science Center, National Water Quality LaboratoryMachine learning models of arsenic in private wells throughout the conterminous United States as a tool for exposure assessment in human health studies
Arsenic from geologic sources is widespread in groundwater within the United States (U.S.). In several areas, groundwater arsenic concentrations exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level of 10 μg per liter (μg/L). However, this standard applies only to public-supply drinking water and not to private-supply, which is not federally regulated and is rarely monitored. AAuthorsMelissa Lombard, Molly Scannell Bryan, Daniel Jones, Catherine Bulka, Paul M. Bradley, Lorraine C. Backer, Michael J. Focazio, Debra T. Silverman, Patricia Toccalino, Maria Argos, Matthew O. Gribble, Joseph D. AyotteInclusion of pesticide transformation products is key to estimating pesticide exposures and effects in small U.S. streams
Improved analytical methods can quantify hundreds of pesticide transformation products (TPs), but understanding of TP occurrence and potential toxicity in aquatic ecosystems remains limited. We quantified 108 parent pesticides and 116 TPs in more than 3 700 samples from 442 small streams in mostly urban basins across five major regions of the United States. TPs were detected nearly as frequently aAuthorsBarbara Mahler, Lisa H. Nowell, Mark W. Sandstrom, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Christopher Konrad, Peter Van MetreByEcosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC), Washington Water Science Center, National Water Quality LaboratoryFeral swine as sources of fecal contamination in recreational waters
Recreational waters are primary attractions at many national and state parks where feral swine populations are established, and thus are possible hotspots for visitor exposure to feral swine contaminants. Microbial source tracking (MST) was used to determine spatial and temporal patterns of fecal contamination in Congaree National Park (CONG) in South Carolina, U.S.A., which has an established popAuthorsAnna M. McKee, Paul M. Bradley, David Shelley, Shea McCarthy, Marirosa MolinaSyntrophotalea acetylenivorans sp. nov., a diazotrophic, acetylenotrophic anaerobe isolated from intertidal sediments
A Gram-stain-negative, strictly anaerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated SFB93T, was isolated from the intertidal sediments of South San Francisco Bay, located near Palo Alto, CA, USA. SFB93T was capable of acetylenotrophic and diazotrophic growth, grew at 22–37 °C, pH 6.3–8.5 and in the presence of 10–45 g l−1 NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed thaAuthorsShaun Baesman, John M. Sutton, Janna L. Fierst, Denise M. Akob, Ronald S. OremlandMulti-region assessment of chemical mixture exposures and predicted cumulative effects in USA wadeable urban/agriculture-gradient streams
Chemical-contaminant mixtures are widely reported in large stream reaches in urban/agriculture-developed watersheds, but mixture compositions and aggregate biological effects are less well understood in corresponding smaller headwaters, which comprise most of stream length, riparian connectivity, and spatial biodiversity. During 2014–2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured 389 unique orga
AuthorsPaul M. Bradley, Celeste A. Journey, Kristin M. Romanok, Sara E. Breitmeyer, Daniel T. Button, Daren M. Carlisle, Bradley Huffman, Barbara Mahler, Lisa H. Nowell, Sharon L. Qi, Kelly L. Smalling, Ian R. Waite, Peter C. Van MetreByEcosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Contaminant Biology, Environmental Health Program, Toxic Substances Hydrology, California Water Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Oregon Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)Acetylene-fueled trichloroethene reductive dechlorination in a groundwater enrichment culture
In aquifers, acetylene (C2H2) is a product of abiotic degradation of trichloroethene (TCE) catalyzed by in situ minerals. C2H2 can, in turn, inhibit multiple microbial processes including TCE dechlorination and metabolisms that commonly support dechlorination, in addition to supporting the growth of acetylenotrophic microorganisms. Previously, C2H2 was shown to support TCE reductive dechlorinationAuthorsSara Gushgari-Doyle, Ronald S. Oremland, Ray Keren, Shaun Baesman, Denise M. Akob, Jillian F. Banfield, Lisa Alvarez-CohenModeling estrogenic activity in streams throughout the Potomac and Chesapeake Bay watersheds
Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), specifically estrogenic endocrine-disrupting compounds, vary in concentration and composition in surface waters under the influence of different landscape sources and landcover gradients. Estrogenic activity in surface waters may lead to adverse effects in aquatic species at both individual and population levels, often observed through the presence of interseAuthorsStephanie Gordon, Daniel Jones, Vicki S. Blazer, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Brianna Williams, Kelly SmallingIn vitro effects-based method and water quality screening model for use in pre- and post-distribution treated waters
Recent urban public water supply contamination events emphasize the importance of screening treated drinking water quality after distribution. In vitro bioassays, when run concurrently with analytical chemistry methods, are effective tools to evaluating the efficacy of water treatment processes and water quality. We tested 49 water samples representing the Chicago Department of Water Management seAuthorsElizabeth Medlock-Kakaley, Mary C. Cardon, Nicola Evans, Luke R. Iwanowicz, Joshua M. Allen, Elizabeth Wagner, Katherine Bokenkamp, Susan D Richardson, Michael J Plewa, Paul M. Bradley, Kristin M. Romanok, Dana W. Kolpin, Justin M. Conley, L. Earl Jr. Gray, Phillip C. Hartig, Vickie S. WilsonAssessing the impact of drought on arsenic exposure from private domestic wells in the conterminous United States
This study assesses the potential impact of drought on arsenic exposure from private domestic wells by using a previously developed statistical model that predicts the probability of elevated arsenic concentrations (>10 μg per liter) in water from domestic wells located in the conterminous United States (CONUS). The application of the model to simulate drought conditions used systematically reduceAuthorsMelissa Lombard, Johnni Daniel, Zuha Jeddy, Lauren Hay, Joseph D. AyotteEvaluating the effects of replacing septic systems with municipal sewers on groundwater quality in a densely developed coastal neighborhood, Falmouth, Massachusetts, 2016–19
Land disposal of sewage wastewater through septic systems and cesspools is a major cause of elevated concentrations of nitrogen in the shallow coastal aquifers of southern New England. The discharge of nitrogen from these sources at the coast is affecting the environmental health of coastal saltwater bodies. In response, local, State, and Federal agencies are considering expensive actions to mitigAuthorsTimothy D. McCobb, Jeffrey R. Barbaro, Denis R. LeBlanc, Marcel BelavalDifferences in neonicotinoid and metabolite sorption to activated carbon are driven by alterations to the insecticidal pharmacophore
Widespread application of neonicotinoids has led to their proliferation in waters. Despite low neonicotinoid hydrophobicity, our prior studies implicated granular activated carbon (GAC) in neonicotinoid removal. Based on known receptor binding characteristics, we hypothesized that the insecticidal pharmacophore influences neonicotinoid sorption. Our objectives were to illuminate drivers of neonicoAuthorsDanielle T. Webb, Matthew R. Nagorzanski, Megan M Powers, David M. Cwiertny, Michelle Hladik, Gregory H. LeFevre